My Life Outdoors

Not exactly your top outdoor destination. Flat, arid, limited vegetation, limited wildlife, these are just a few words that describe West Texas. There is little here for any person who likes to be outdoors. But yet this is where I call home. I never intended to come to midland. Having grown up in the heart of the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex, I often found myself driving down I-35 into the Texas hill country. Texas may not compare to some states in what she has to offer for the outdoorsman, but the Texas hill country is about as beautiful of a place as any I have ever seen. The hill country is where I wanted to live.

So when I came time to change employers I hand picked several jobs in beautiful hill country cities that I would love to live in. Never had I even thought about the west Texas desert, much less considered moving here. But as the Lord would have it West Texas was where I was meant to be. By some strange way a resume of mine ended up here in Midland. I received a call, did and interview, and before I knew it I was packing up the family and driving west on the dusty seat of an old U-Haul truck.

Two years later I have come to appreciate the beauty of West Texas. Even if all of that beauty is at least 100 miles from my front door. But there is beauty here that many people never see. Growing up in DFW I would often come across pictures of Big Bend National park. The rugged beauty of the park called to me any time I would see such pictures. Living in the Metroplex put Big Bend a good 10 to 12 hours away. I never could bring myself to make such a long drive when the hill country was only 3-4 hours away. The first year we lived in Midland, however, I got the chance to head down there. Now I am only four and a half hours away and Big Bend has become one of my favorite places to be.

Midland, I discovered, was just what it claimed to be, the middle of the land. Looking at a map of Texas you find that some its prettiest places are between 4-5 hours away. Big Bend (4.5 hours drive), Guadalupe Mountain: Highest Peak in Texas at 8717 feet (4 hours drive), Palo Duro Canyon (4.5 hours), Texas Hill Country (3-5 hours). Davis Mountains: Second highest range in Texas (3.5 hours) Texas Metroplex (4.5 hours). As it turned out Midland was some kind of geographical oddity that opened me up to some of the quietest, prettiest, most remote places in Texas. Places that, while I was living in Dallas, never thought I would make it too.

Sometimes it is hard to find the time to drive 3-5 hours away to be outdoors, but I am finding more and more time every year. This blog will serve as a place record my adventures as I do find the time, as well as a place to daydream about those places in-between times. This is My Life Outdoors.